To the winner go the spoils, and that was certainly the case this week as No. 1 Nebraska volleyball’s pair of sweeps against top-20 teams resulted in a Big Ten weekly awards haul.
Harper Murray earned co-Big Ten Player of the Week, Manaia Ogbechie is the Defensive Player of the Week and Bergen Reilly is the setter of the Week for the 17-0 Huskers who are off to a 6-0 start to conference play.
“They need each other to be great, and I think when we’re clicking, we can be pretty unstoppable,” Coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “It was very encouraging, and just rewarding for the team to see those players get those awards that were definitely well deserved this week.”
Murray shared the honor with Oregon’s Alanah Clemente after leading the conference with 5.17 kills per set on .429 hitting. In the sweep over Creighton on Sept. 16, Murray hit negative for the first time in her career. At that point, she was averaging 2.96 kills per set on .178 hitting and shared soon after how she hadn’t been happy with her performance or feeling the most confident.
In the nine matches since, her numbers have skyrocketed to 3.95 kills per set on .355 hitting.
“In the first few weeks, she statistically may have been struggling, but I think as a team, or I’ll speak for myself, I didn’t really notice,” Laney Choboy said. “I think that she just was still carrying herself with a lot of poise and just it was really hard to tell that she wasn’t playing well or that she wasn’t feeling confident. I think that that’s a testament to her and how she’s carrying herself this year. I think, truly after the Penn State game, she just gained a lot of confidence, and she’s been building on that every practice, every game, every day since, and I’m really proud of her and the trajectory that she’s going at.
“I think she’s playing, honestly, at a level that I don’t know if I’ve seen her play at yet. I think that her ceiling is just through the roof.”
Murray was threatening to break through that ceiling with her performance against now-No. 6 Wisconsin as she tallied a season-high 20 kills on .471 hitting. She misfired on her first two swings of the match then caught fire, only erring two more time the rest of the way. Busboom Kelly said the part of Murray’s performance she was most pleased by was the fact that the senior remained aggressive throughout the match.
“Even when she tipped or rolled, they were aggressive tips and rolls, and everything else she was swinging away,” Busboom Kelly said. “I think being able to use a big block is also very encouraging, because when you get to the end in December, you’re playing against some of the most physical players in the country. She didn’t back down from playing across the net from somebody who’s 6-6 and long. She was super successful against that big block, which I think people have their doubts.
“But we know how good Harper is and how smart of a player she is, so I think that was encouraging to see her use all that and put it on display.”
Whereas Murray racked up the kills, Ogbechie was just as effectively at the net defensively. She averaged 2.17 blocks per set during the 2-0 week. The sophomore was in on 13 of Nebraska’s 16 blocks despite only playing three rotations, which Busboom Kelly called “very impressive.”
Manaia Ogbechie spikes the ball against the Wisconsin Badgers. Photo by John S. Peterson.
“That’s what we need from her,” the head coach said. “Your M2 is, a lot of times, one of your better blockers, so it’s great to see her deliver, especially after following Rebekah Allick who has a great blocking presence. I don’t think we’ve missed a beat with Manaia.”
Two of those blocks came at the end of the Indiana match with Ogbechie playing de facto opposite hitter as Busboom Kelly subbed Kenna Cogill in for Virginia Adriano to create and even more intimidating block opposite Hoosier star Jaidyn Jager. Busboom Kelly called that configuration a “wrinkle” she wants to continue experimenting with.
“Manaia is a great blocker, and so is Kenna, so if we feel like we really need to stop somebody, or we’re doing a poor job defensively, that could be an awesome thing for us to do, and not feel like we’re missing a beat offensively. I do think it’s harder to commit to that full time, because it makes so many changes, and I think Virginia is kind of coming alive, and Ryan [Hunter] has proven that she can make a difference when she goes in there, but we want to be able to do some things and use our depth and use our bench when we need it.
“I’m excited to try that again; hopefully, we’ll see it this week at some point and continue to see it. Playing against opponents will show us the maybe the negatives of it, so we’ve got to try it and see how it can be stopped. But I love it. I think our team’s bought in that that could be big for us down the stretch.”
At 1.33 blocks per set, Ogbechie currently ranks third in the Big Ten while also contributing 2.15 kills per set on .419 hitting (fifth in the conference).
Bergen Reilly sets the ball against the Wisconsin Badgers. Photo by John S. Peterson.
Finally, Reilly continues to add to her extensive list of weekly accolades. Monday was the 15th time in her career — and second time this season — that the conference has honored her. While Nebraska’s defense drew rave reviews from Wisconsin’s Kelly Sheffield, Reilly also set the Huskers to a .388 hitting percentage across the two wins, good for second nationally. The reigning AVCA Setter of the Year averaged 12.33 assists per set and now leads the conference at 11.02 on the season. Her offense now leads the country in hitting percentage as well after the huskers passed No. 2 Pittsburgh last week.
Teraya Sigler didn’t win any awards, but she was a big part of Nebraska’s success — and has been ever since returning from her injury. In the past four matches since returning to her six-rotation role, the sophomore outside hitter has averaged 2.92 kills per set on .438 hitting. She’s tallied at least eight kills and hit over .380 in all four matches, with three of those coming against a top-20 team. Busboom Kelly said it’s Sigler’s confidence that is standing out.
“She’s swinging with no fear,” Busboom Kelly said. “She’s communicating at a high level. Just everything she’s doing, it just continues to get better and better each match, and that’s what we need her to do in that position is be able to kill balls. I think she understands that that’s her role, and so she’s going for it.”
The Huskers will look to carry that success forward as they hit the road to start week four of Big Ten play. Nebraska will visit Northwestern (7-10, 0-6 Big Ten) on Thursday. The Wildcats only won three sets in the first three weeks of league play, and they rank 16th in the Big Ten in hitting percentage (.239), 17th in aces (1.08 per set) and last in opponent hitting (.254), blocks (1.7 per set) and aces allowed (1.6 per set).
A trio of pin-hitters leads the Wildcat attack in 6-foot-2 junior outside hitter Mara Štiglic (3.71 kills per set on .221 hitting), 6-foot-1 sophomore Bella Bullingham (3.15 kills per set on .257 hitting) and 6-foot-5 senior Campbell Paris (2.83 kills per set on .261 hitting).
With Northwestern’s struggles, if the Huskers head to Evanston with the right mindset, Thursday could be a night fans see Busboom Kelly continue to experiment with situational lineup tweaks (like the double middle blocker look) and get her reserves some live reps.
First serve is set for 7 p.m. CT. The match will be available on Big Ten Plus for subscribers and on the Huskers Radio Network.
